Buford asks Baysox bullpen to pitch in for stretch runThe...

Minor league notebook

ROCHESTER, NEW YORK — Buford asks Baysox bullpen to pitch in for stretch run

The injuries and pitching problems that have gripped the Orioles have forced the Baysox to juggle their roster just as they make a push for the Eastern League playoffs. They sent pitchers north to Rochester to fill in the gaps left when Red Wing pitchers Mike Oquist and John O'Donoghue joined the parent club.

Bowie manager Don Buford got a taste of this last season when the then-Hagerstown Suns went through a rash of injuries, but this year's circumstances have forced him do things a little differently.

"What I've done is talk to the pitchers and ask them to try to give me a little bit extra," Buford said. "I've told them that I might have to stay with them a little bit longer than I like because I'm not able to go to the bullpen that easily."

Pitcher Mark Smith returned to the Baysox after a stretch with the Keys, where he went 5-6 with a 3.82 ERA. Smith took the 7-1 loss to Canton-Akron on Thursday night, surrendering all seven runs. In his previous four-game stint with Bowie, Smith had allowed four hits, no walks and no runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Meanwhile, Jim Dedrick has entered the starting rotation, thanks in large part to his work against the league's three best hitting teams: Harrisburg, Binghamton and Canton-Akron. In four starts againstthem, Dedrick, who will pitch today against Reading, has a 1-0 record with a 2.25 ERA.

NOTES: For the second straight year, OF Stanton Cameron has hit eight home runs in August. Last year he did it with the Frederick Keys. Of Cameron's 21 home runs, 15 are bases-empty shots and six are two-run homers, meaning he has

driven in 27 runs on his 21 homers. ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Rick Krivda was waiting for the results of his second Triple-A start before he commented on the jump from Double-A.

Krivda allowed one run in six innings to get the victory Aug. 14after which he said: "I think the difference is a little over-rated. But that's after one game."

The left-hander followed that by allowing one run over eighinnings Thursday against Pawtucket.

* Kevin McGehee has been the International League ERA leadealmost since he accumulated enough innings to qualify, but it hasn't seemed to impress the Orioles.

McGehee, in his fourth pro season, has yet to reach the majorsbut he's trying not to fret about it.

"I'm always hopeful, but I'm trying not to think about it too mucbecause it will affect me on the mound," said the 24-year-old right-hander.

McGehee, acquired from the San Francisco Giants for LuiMercedes, is on the 40-man roster, which he thought might have given him an edge when the Orioles needed a pitcher. But McGehee hasn't pitched in relief this season, which is where Mike Oquist and Anthony Telford had the advantage.

* Third baseman Scott Coolbaugh is less diplomatic about whahe considers slights by the Orioles -- the most recent being the acquisition of veteran Mike Pagliarulo.

"I knew there was no way I'd be in their plans," Coolbaugh said"That's what makes the season so hard, knowing you're with an organization that at the beginning of the year said you'll be the backup for Leo Gomez. And when he goes down, they make all those trades. It's hard to swallow. Your pride comes in."

Coolbaugh said he has put the big leagues out of his mind fothis season. The 27-year-old signed as a free agent last season, and said he wouldn't re-sign with the Orioles.

* Ed Yacopino was loading bags on USAir flights in Pittsburgwhen Orioles assistant general manager Doug Melvin, who traded Yacopino to the Milwaukee organization in April, invited him back to the Red Wings when the team was short on outfielders last week. Yacopino had walked out on Triple-A New Orleans a month later.

"I wasn't happy from Day One," said Yacopino, who once walkeout on the Pirates organization.

Yacopino comes back to an uncertain role. Normally, he'd bbehind center fielders Bruce Dostal and Jason Alstead. But Dostal's elbow is still tender and Alstead, with 12 Triple-A games, may be overmatched as the Red Wings try to hang onto their East Division lead.